AXPONA 2024

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Jason Victor Serinus  |  May 08, 2024  |  0 comments
What a perfect way to say goodbye AXPONA 2024. In a simple system consisting of Zellaton Emotion Evo speakers ($44,750/pair), LTA Ultralinear amplification ($7000), and a Grimm Audio MU2 ($17,500) serving as preamp and streaming DAC with a Roon core and analog volume control, we began with a 16/44.1 mastering of Janis Ian’s “Guess You Had to Be There.” Given my age, I expect I was.
Mark Henninger  |  May 08, 2024  |  0 comments
JBL's AXPONA presentation began with a nod to the iconic "Blown Away Guy" tape ad for Maxell featuring the original JBL L100 speakers.
Rogier van Bakel  |  May 06, 2024  |  0 comments
I counted more than 40 audio products in the MoFi Distribution Schaumburg B ballroom. How to cover such a cornucopia? Making my job easier was that only eight of them were hooked up. The others were there to be oohed and ahed over, perhaps prodded and poked, but they’d (re)produce no music at the show.
Rogier van Bakel  |  May 06, 2024  |  2 comments
High-flying Fidelity Imports occupied seven rooms at AXPONA 2024—probably a show record. Since starting the company in 2018, industry veteran Steve Jain has signed up a bevy of brands from Italy, France, England, Japan, and beyond.
Jason Victor Serinus  |  May 05, 2024  |  4 comments
It was great to finally meet Joe Rodger, a member of the young Linn team with whom I coordinated my review of Linn Klimax Solo 800 monoblocks ($90,000/pair) that appears in the May 2024 issue
Rogier van Bakel  |  May 05, 2024  |  0 comments
Going to an audio show is a bit like being a finalist in that old Monty Hall show where your prize is behind one of three identical doors. At AXPONA, there are more than 200 identical doors.
Jason Victor Serinus  |  May 05, 2024  |  0 comments
Audio Skies and Fidelis AV teamed up to present some of my favorite emerging stars of the Audio Highlands. It was a joy to re-experience some of the special sound I heard in my music room when I reviewed JMF Audio monoblocks.
Jason V Serinus  |  May 05, 2024  |  3 comments
It was good to see Sam Laufer again after several years. It was equally good to hear how fine Mark Porzilli’s Porzilli Audio speakers plus subwoofers ($35,000/pair) sounded in the company of the fabulous darTZeel LHC-208 Mk II integrated amplifier with DAC/streamer ($27,585), a Laufer Teknik Mini Memory Player 64 ($7500), an SVS 3000 Micro subwoofer ($899), and Liquid Cables.
Jason Victor Serinus  |  May 05, 2024  |  0 comments
In room 1126, I encountered one of many marriages of convenience between brands and distributors that prove to be matches made in audiophile heaven. In this case, it was the union of new Mon Acoustic PlatiMON VC One bookshelf speakers ($6000/pair) on top, joined by jumpers to the PlatiMON VC Two bass module ($11,000/pair), mated with components from AXISS Audio distributors and other companies.
Rogier van Bakel  |  May 05, 2024  |  0 comments
My only regret about visiting the Fine Sounds America room was that I went there at 10 in the morning. Considering how excellent the system sounded, this set the bar for the rest of the day almost impossibly high, and I like to ease into things. Despite the fact that I hadn’t had my morning coffee yet, I was instantly awake.
Jason Victor Serinus  |  May 05, 2024  |  2 comments
In the quiet inner sanctum of Ultra Fidelis’ two-room suite with Vandersteen, AudioQuest, AMG, Audio Research and more, I sat enthralled before one of the most musical systems I encountered at AXPONA.
Rogier van Bakel  |  May 04, 2024  |  0 comments
A $20,000 system is probably no one’s idea of cheap, but it’s affordable-ish by AXPONA standards. And if the sound quality of such a setup is as good as it was in room 394, where Chicago dealer Saturday Audio Exchange had again partnered with Canadian marques Paradigm and Anthem, we’re getting into bargain territory.
Rogier van Bakel  |  May 04, 2024  |  0 comments
During each AXPONA, the makers of head-fi products set up their booths in the ground-floor central ballroom of Schaumburg's enormous Renaissance hotel. The Ear Gear Experience, they call it. I always have a look and a listen, in part because the products there aren't crazy expensive: three and four figures, mostly.
Rogier van Bakel  |  May 04, 2024  |  6 comments
An old Dutch saying holds that "good wine needs no wreath," meaning that real quality sells itself. That probably applies to Philharmonic Audio, too. The Maryland-based speaker manufacturer, led by veteran designer and viola maestro Dennis Murphy, has never put much stock in advertising and marketing.
Jason Victor Serinus  |  May 04, 2024  |  0 comments
Anyone who knows these brands senses the potential for great sound in this room. Great sound in and of itself, however, was not the system’s raison d’être.

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